China this week, 5-9 September 2022
Headlines from major Chinese newspapers, search engines, and social media
Monday - “Lies, damned lies and biases create perverse view of Xinjiang”
All Chinese outlets are furious about the new assessment of human rights concerns in Xinjiang released by the UN Human Rights Office at the end of August. The report states that: “Serious human rights violations have been committed in XUAR in the context of the Government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-“extremism” strategies… separating families and severing human contacts, while causing particular suffering to affected Uyghur, Kazakh and other predominantly Muslim minority families, exacerbated by patterns of intimidations and threats against members of the diaspora community speaking publicly about experiences in XUAR.”
China Daily complains that the report was released “without the consent of the Chinese government… with a pretext to smear China and spread lies about Xinjiang, constituting a grave interference in China's internal affairs.” Global Times claims that “the US and some Western forces have firmly seized many important positions in the OHCHR and planted many individuals full of ideological bias to take these positions,” which have pre-selected evidence and interviewees to support their biases. Also, there hasn’t been any terrorism in Xinjiang since 2017. So even if we are detaining people against their will, it’s working. So there.
Tuesday - “Largest earthquake in Sichuan since 2017 claimed 66 lives”
A large earthquake has hit the southwestern Sichuan province, with a reported death toll at the time of writing of 82. Considering that the region has also been dealing with severe drought in recent months, Global Times calls on the nation to lend their support to the people of the province.
Earthquakes are fairly common in the region, and most people will remember a large one that took place in 2008, which claimed over 69,000 lives. Early warning systems are in place, and most residents know what to do, as show by viral clips on social media.
Wednesday - “5 Hong Kong speech therapists found guilty of sedition over children’s books”
Five Hong Kong speech therapists were found guilty of sedition for printing a series of children’s books about sheep and wolves. The 67-page verdict argues that the wolves, who represent the Chinese government, were painted as evil aggressors, while the sheep, the people of Hong Kong, were kind and oppressed. The whole book was interpreted as being part of the “anti-legislation movement,” despite the defence’s argument that the story was just an educational fable.
The group could face up to 2 years in prison. The verdict apparently “does not bar anyone from saying or publishing whatever they want – including criticism of the authorities” within reason.
Thursday - The plague returns to Beijing
Over 1,000 people have been quarantined in the capital for coming into close contact with 18 confirmed cases. Officials say the outbreak “is controllable, thanks to the quick and decisive measures taken by health authorities after infection clusters emerged in local schools this week.” Despite the quick action, however, seven officials have punished for failing to prevent and control the outbreak, including 2 of them being removed from their posts altogether.
Despite many predicting that China will back off the zero-covid policy due to its unpopularity, the government seems to be carrying on undeterred.
Friday - Govt to expand its support for job creation
The government will introduce new policy to create new jobs and businesses. Companies will be entitled to job creation subsidies in hiring college graduates unable to find jobs two years after graduation and young people registered as unemployed. This push shows that the government is generally worried about the job situation, as are most growing and developed economies. However, China’s graduate market is particularly saturated, and urban unemployment is around 5.5%.
As we discussed in the previous news round up two weeks ago, the government is trying to push young people into different sectors, including vocational courses. In fact (little bonus story for you), a vocational teacher won this year’s ‘most beautiful teacher award’ for being a national role model, reflecting “that China is focusing on the importance of vocational education and aims to foster more leading personnel with the spirit of craftsmanship in the manufacturing industry.”
Hope everyone had a lovely weekend :)